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150-845: From the founding of the Roman Republic in 509 BC to the mid second century BC, Rome had expanded from a small city state to a world power. After decisively winning the Macedonian Wars , destroying Carthage in 146 BC, and destroying Corinth in the same year, Rome became the hegemonic power of the Mediterranean. Aside from controlling the Italian Peninsula , it had gained provinces in Iberia , Greece , Corsica , Sardinia , Sicily , and North Africa , in addition to its many client states and allies. During this 400 year expansion, Roman politics

300-517: A bill by the tribune Lucius Licinius Crassus proposed that priesthoods be elected instead of co-opted . While advocating for his proposal, he pointedly turned his back on the senators in the comitium and spoke directly to the people in the Roman Forum . The only detailed ancient account of the ballot laws is Cicero 's De Legibus (III. 33–9). Written in the last years of the Republic, De legibus

450-420: A crisis during the siege of Veii , the army urgently needed to deploy more cavalry, and "those who possessed equestrian rating but had not yet been assigned public horses" volunteered to pay for their horses out of their own pockets. By way of compensation, pay was introduced for cavalry service, as it had already been for the infantry (in 406 BC). The persons referred to in this passage were probably members of

600-631: A crushing defeat by the Tigurini at the Battle of Burdigala . His legate Gaius Popilius Laenas negotiated a humiliating agreement to save the lives of the soldiers. The agreement was considered unacceptable at Rome, and Coelius planned to prosecute him in an assembly of the people. Before he did so, he introduced the final ballot law. The law was passed and the prosecution was successful, resulting in Popilius being sentenced to exile. Cicero, who wrote in relation to

750-458: A defunct republican ceremony, the recognitio equitum (inspection of the equites ), in which equites paraded every five years with their horses before the consuls. At some stage during the early Principate, equites acquired the right to the title "egregius" ("distinguished gentleman"), while senators were styled " clarissimus " ("most distinguished"). Beyond equites with equus publicus , Augustus' legislation permitted any Roman citizen who

900-440: A further tripling of the cavalry. Yet this was probably anachronistic, as it would have resulted in a contingent of 1,800 horse, incongruously large, compared to the heavy infantry, which was probably only 6,000 strong in the late regal period. Instead, the additional 12 centuriae were probably created at a later stage, perhaps around 400 BC, but these new units were political not military, most likely designed to admit plebeians to

1050-410: A grain subsidy for poorer citizens; reforms to the judicial system; the free issue of clothes and equipment to soldiers; the founding of overseas colonies to help the landless; a reduction in the length of military service; and citizenship for Italian allies. In 121 BC, after Gaius failed re-election, one of his supporters killed an attendant of the consul Lucius Opimius . A confrontation ensued between

1200-632: A great deal of territory, this defeat marked the beginning of the end of the Seleucid empire, as they were to begin facing increasingly aggressive subjects in the east (the Parthians ) and the west (the Greeks), as well as Judea in the South. Their empire disintegrated into a rump over the course of the next century, when it was eclipsed by Pontus . Following Magnesia, Rome pulled out of Greece again, assuming (or hoping) that

1350-462: A highly unstable, unpredictable, and inter-dependent network of alliances and dependencies. With some major exceptions of outright military rule (such as parts of mainland Greece), the eastern Mediterranean world remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms (with varying degrees of independence, both de jure and de facto ) until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It wasn't until

1500-543: A major mobilization campaign. This campaign led to military victory against Seleucid incursions, but in 205 BC when Ptolemy IV was succeeded by the five-year-old Ptolemy V (or rather, by his regents), the newly armed Egyptians turned against each other. The result was a major civil war between north and south. Seeing that all of Egypt could now be conquered easily, the Macedonians and Seleucids forged an alliance to conquer and divide Egypt between themselves. This represented

1650-416: A martial society. For equites , a focus of the heroic ethos was the quest for spolia opima , the stripped armour and weapons of a foe whom they had killed in single combat. There are many recorded instances. For example, Servilius Geminus Pulex , who went on to become Consul in 202 BC, was reputed to have gained spolia 23 times. The higher the rank of the opponent killed in combat, the more prestigious

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1800-463: A matter of reproach to Publius Africanus that Briso was believed to have withdrawn his opposition to it through the influence of Africanus. In his speech Pro Sestio , he further comments that "A ballot law was proposed by Lucius Cassius. The people thought that their liberty was at stake. The leaders of the State held a different opinion; in a matter that concerned the safety of the optimates, they dreaded

1950-432: A proposal. A coin from 63 BCE (right) depicts a voter dropping a ballot inscribed with "V" into a cista, indicating approval of a proposal. The ballot laws had various effects on the republic. In the traditional view, they were a democratic reform that increased voter choice and reduced the influence of the upper classes. This is the view taken by Cicero, an aristocrat and opponent of the ballot laws: Everyone knows that

2100-511: A secret ballot for the election of magistrates in all assemblies. Gabinius, the first person of that name known to hold political office in Rome, was from a family that had low-status (possibly slave origins) in Cales , and was able to enter politics due to the military success of his father. The reasons behind the law are unclear, as are the circumstances surrounding its passage. It is thought that this law

2250-464: A series of further laws enforcing the secrecy of the ballot. In 119 BC, the tribune Gaius Marius introduced a law that narrowed the causeway leading to the ballot box, in order to prevent non-voters from standing on the causeway and intimidating voters. The law was passed despite vigorous Senate opposition. The other secrecy-enforcing laws are not explicitly mentioned by ancient sources, but Cicero indicates their existence by proposing to abolish: all

2400-431: A small minority of the citizenry. (The lowest class, the proletarii , rated at under 400 drachmae , had just one vote, despite being the most numerous). As a result, the wealthiest echelon could ensure that the elected magistrates were always their own members. In turn, this ensured that the senate was dominated by the wealthy classes, as its membership was composed almost entirely of current and former magistrates. In

2550-530: A transformation during this period, from the light, unarmoured horsemen of the early period to the Greek-style armoured cuirassiers described by Polybius. As a result of the demands of the Samnite hostilities, a normal consular army was doubled in size to two legions, making four legions raised annually overall. Roman cavalry in the field thus increased to approximately 1,200 horses. This now represented only 25% of

2700-428: A variety of social pressures reduced voter freedom. For example, both centuries and tribes were based on geographic location, so voters voted with the people most likely to know them. The rogator himself was a man of distinction, such as a Senator. Voters might be reluctant to offend their family, their landlords, or their military commanders. More significantly, Rome had a strong system of patronage. In this system,

2850-525: A war against Macedon, but rather to intervene on their behalf diplomatically. Rome gave Philip an ultimatum that he must cease in his campaigns against Rome's new Greek allies. Doubting Rome's strength (not an unfounded belief given Rome's performance in the First Macedonian War) Philip ignored the request, which surprised the Romans. Believing their honor and reputation on the line, Rome escalated

3000-599: A wealthy patron would support his less wealthy client with food, money, business advice, and legal assistance. In exchange, the client would grant the patron favours in his personal and public life. One of the most significant was political support, which included campaigning for the patron and voting for him in elections. Another major source of influence was largess (largitio), also called ambitus . In an attempt to buy votes, candidates would hold lavish banquets and games, or even directly bribe voters with wine, oil, or money. For example, Titus Annius Milo , when canvassing for

3150-438: Is a fictional dialogue between Cicero , his brother Quintus , and their mutual friend Atticus . In the dialogue, the three discuss their conception of the ideal Roman constitution. In Book III 33–9, Cicero summarizes the passage of the ballot laws; the three subsequently criticize the laws and propose repeal or alteration. Cicero, an opponent of the laws, portrays the sponsors of the ballot laws as demagogues currying favor with

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3300-463: Is also from this period that every Roman army that took the field was regularly accompanied by at least as many troops supplied by the socii (Rome's Italian military confederates, often referred to as "Latin allies"). Each legion would be matched by a confederate ala (literally: "wing"), a formation that contained roughly the same number of infantry as a legion, but three times the number of horses (900). Legionary cavalry also probably underwent

3450-533: Is correct, it implies that the cavalry was exclusively patrician (and therefore hereditary) in the regal period. (However, Cornell considers the evidence tenuous). It is widely accepted that the Roman monarchy was overthrown by a patrician coup, probably provoked by the Tarquin dynasty 's populist policies in favour of the plebeian class. Alfoldi suggests that the coup was carried out by the celeres themselves. According to

3600-542: Is no property requirement. The Plebeian Assembly was similar to the Tribal Assembly, except that only plebeians were permitted, and it was presided by a plebeian tribune. The Plebeian Assembly eventually became the main legislative body of the republic. In addition to their roles in electing magistrates and passing legislation, the Tribal and Plebeian assemblies could try judicial cases. The Centuriate Assembly also served as

3750-480: The praefecti praetorio (commanders of the Praetorian Guard) who also acted as the emperor's chiefs of military staff. There were normally two of these, but at times irregular appointments resulted in just a single incumbent or even three at the same time. Equestrians also provided the praefecti classis (admirals commanding) of the two main imperial fleets at Misenum in the bay of Naples and at Ravenna on

3900-494: The praefectus urbi (prefect of the city of Rome), who controlled the cohortes urbanae (public order battalions), the only fully armed force in the city apart from the Praetorian Guard. Nevertheless, a wide range of senior administrative and military posts were created and reserved for equestrians by Augustus, though most ranked below the senatorial posts. In the imperial administration, equestrian posts included that of

4050-702: The Aetolian League and Pergamon after 211 BC) did little more than skirmish with Macedonian forces and seize minor territory along the Adriatic coastline in order to "combat piracy". Rome's interest was not in conquest, but in keeping Macedon busy while Rome was fighting Hannibal. The war ended indecisively in 205 BC with the Treaty of Phoenice . While a minor conflict, it opened the way for Roman military intervention in Macedon. This conflict, though fought between Rome and Macedon,

4200-646: The Battle of Cynoscephalae , and he sued for peace. In the resulting Treaty of Tempea , Philip V was forbidden from interfering with affairs outside his borders, and was required to relinquish his recent Greek conquests. At the Olympiad in 196 BC Rome proclaimed the "Freedom of the Greeks", which constituted Rome's (arguably misguided) new policy towards Greece. This was that Greece was now stable and Rome could completely remove itself from Greek affairs without risking more instability. It seemed that Rome had no further interest in

4350-587: The Roman Senate that Philip V of Macedon and Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire had signed the non-aggression pact. Although the exact nature of this treaty is unclear, and the exact Roman reason for getting involved despite decades of apathy towards Greece (the relevant passages on this from our primary source, Polybius, have been lost), the Greek delegation was successful. Initially, Rome didn't intend to fight

4500-500: The Roman magistrates , the executive officers of the state: consuls, praetors , aediles and quaestors . In the assembly, the citizen body was divided into 193 centuriae , or voting constituencies. Of these, 18 were allocated to equites (including patricians) and a further 80 to the first class of commoners, securing an absolute majority of the votes (98 out of 193) for the wealthiest echelon of society, although it constituted only

4650-585: The Samnite League led to the transformation of the Roman army from the Greek-style hoplite phalanx that it was in the early period, to the Italian-style manipular army described by Polybius. It is believed that the Romans copied the manipular structure from their enemies the Samnites, learning through hard experience its greater flexibility and effectiveness in the mountainous terrain of central Italy. It

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4800-515: The Samnite Wars obliged Rome to double the normal annual military levy from two to four legions, doubling the cavalry levy from 600 to 1,200 horses. Legionary cavalry started to recruit wealthier citizens from outside the 18 centuriae . These new recruits came from the first class of commoners in the Centuriate Assembly organisation, and were not granted the same privileges. By the time of

4950-479: The Second Punic War (218–202 BC), all the members of the first class of commoners were required to serve as cavalrymen. The presence of equites in the Roman cavalry diminished steadily in the period 200–88 BC as only equites could serve as the army's senior officers; as the number of legions proliferated fewer were available for ordinary cavalry service. After c. 88 BC, equites were no longer drafted into

5100-531: The end of the Republic . The process was summarised by Flower: Traditionally, the Roman mint had favored repetitive coin types in patterns similar to the coins of Greek cities, especially of those in southern Italy. Now coin types started to change annually and to reflect designs chosen by the individual officials in charge of the mint each year. The new coins displayed a varied array of types that could refer to religious symbols, political ideas, anniversaries of historical events, monuments or buildings in Rome, or to

5250-399: The equites and first class, despite comprising a small portion of the population, were only 8 votes short of a majority of the centuries. Similarly, the landless proletarii , which might have made up 14% of the population, were allocated one century. The centuries voted by class, so that the wealthiest centuries voted first, followed by the less wealthy centuries, and so on. When a majority

5400-448: The lex Papiria was undoubtedly passed in the interests of popular reform. Serious political violence would erupt again with the rise of another populares tribune-- Gaius Gracchus , the brother of Tiberius Gracchus . In both 123 BC and 122 BC, Gaius was elected tribune of the people. He proposed a series of popular laws, far more wide-ranging than those of his brother. These included an extension to Tiberius' land redistribution bill;

5550-420: The plebeians ' interest. Briso was apparently dissuaded from actually applying the veto by Scipio Aemilianus , perhaps displaying populares sentiments. Cassius was a noble Plebeian who would become consul in 127 BC and censor in 125 BC. Cicero writes of the opposition to this law: [this law] was long opposed by the tribune of the plebs M. Antius Briso with the help of M. Lepidus the consul, and it became

5700-409: The pons , and be handed a ballot by an attendant ( rogator ). The voter would mark the ballot and deposit it into a ballot box ( cista ) made of wicker. The cista was watched over by guards ( custodes ). It was a great honor to be asked to be a rogator or custos , and only distinguished men were assigned to these roles. In addition to the guards appointed by the presiding officer, each candidate

5850-430: The praefecti (commanders) of the imperial army's auxiliary regiments and five of the six tribuni militum (senior staff officers) in each legion. The standard equestrian officer progression was known as the " tres militiae " ("three services"): praefectus of a cohors (auxiliary infantry regiment), followed by tribunus militum in a legion, and finally praefectus of an ala (auxiliary cavalry regiment). From

6000-569: The princeps senatus (Leader of the Senate), a position reserved for patricians. In addition, patricians monopolized certain priesthoods and continued to enjoy enormous prestige. The period following the end of the Latin War (340–338 BC) and of the Samnite Wars (343–290) saw the transformation of the Roman Republic from a powerful but beleaguered city-state into the hegemonic power of

6150-410: The secret ballot for trials in the popular assembly. It mandated the secret ballot for judicial votes, with the exception of cases on treason. The passing of the law was resisted by the tribune Marcus Antius Briso who threatened to apply his veto , with the support of one of the consuls of the year. The threat of veto was unusual, since it was not customary for it to be applied on matters held to be in

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6300-492: The spolia , and none more so than spolia duci hostium detracta , spoils taken from an enemy leader himself. Many equites attempted to gain such an honour, but very few succeeded for the reason that enemy leaders were always surrounded by large numbers of elite bodyguards. One successful attempt, but with a tragic twist, was that of the decurion Titus Manlius Torquatus in 340 BC during the Latin War. Despite strict orders from

6450-450: The " polybian " army of the mid-republic (338 – 88 BC), equites held the exclusive right to serve as senior officers of the army. These were the six tribuni militum in each legion who were elected by the comitia at the start of each campaigning season and took turns to command the legion in pairs; the praefecti sociorum , commanders of the Italian confederate alae , who were appointed by

6600-401: The 12 new centuriae who were entitled to public horses, but temporarily waived that privilege. Mommsen, however, argues that the passage refers to members of the first class of commoners being admitted to cavalry service in 403 BC for the first time as an emergency measure. If so, this group may be the original so-called equites equo privato , a rank that is attested throughout the history of

6750-470: The Cassian law that the optimates dreaded the "impetuosity of the masses and the licence accorded by the ballot" on matters affecting their safety, wrote: "as long as he [Coelius] lived he repented of having injured the republic, for the purpose of oppressing Caius Popilius". The ballot itself was a small wooden tablet covered with wax, called a tabella cerata . Voters would walk across a narrow causeway, called

6900-507: The Fraccaro interpretation, when the Roman monarchy was replaced with two annually elected praetores (later called "consuls"), the royal army was divided equally between them for campaigning purposes, which, if true, explains why Polybius later said that a legion's cavalry contingent was 300 strong. The 12 additional centuriae ascribed by Livy to Servius Tullius were, in reality, probably formed around 400 BC. In 403 BC, according to Livy, in

7050-537: The Gabinian law was a genuine piece of popular legislation benefiting a broad section of the electorate. He points out that the law applied just as much to the Tribal Assembly, which had no property qualification, as it did to the Centuriate Assembly. He also claims that the level of literacy necessary for voting was low as voters only had to write the initials of the preferred candidate. The assumption that literacy

7200-535: The Gaius and the Senate, which quickly turned violent after the Senate urged the overthrow of Gaius. The consul rallied a militia, and together with Cretan archers who happened to be near the city, attacked Gaius and his supporters. Gaius committed suicide rather than be captured, and Opimius subsequently executed 3000 of his supporters. The first three ballot laws were apparently not perfectly effective, as they were followed by

7350-597: The Greek east in less than a century, Rome's wars with Greece were set in motion after several Greek city-states sought Roman protection against the Macedonian Kingdom and Seleucid Empire in the face of a destabilizing situation created by the weakening of Ptolemaic Egypt . In contrast to the west, the Greek east had been dominated by major empires for centuries, and Roman influence and alliance-seeking led to wars with these empires that further weakened them and therefore created an unstable power vacuum that only Rome

7500-522: The Italian Adriatic coast. The command of Rome's fire brigade and minor constabulary, the vigiles , was likewise reserved for equites . Not all equites followed the conventional career-path. Those equestrians who specialised in a legal or administrative career, providing judges ( iudices ) in Rome's law courts and state secretaries in the imperial government, were granted dispensation from military service by Emperor Hadrian (r. AD 117–138). At

7650-529: The Italian peninsula. This was accompanied by profound changes in its constitution and army . Internally, the critical development was the emergence of the Senate as the all-powerful organ of state. By 280 BC, the Senate had assumed total control of state taxation, expenditure, declarations of war, treaties, raising of legions, establishing colonies and religious affairs, in other words, of virtually all political power. From an ad hoc group of advisors appointed by

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7800-640: The Macedonian forces, but in 168 BC, Roman legions smashed the Macedonian phalanx at the Battle of Pydna . Convinced now that the Greeks (and therefore the rest of the world) would never have peace if Greece was left alone yet again, Rome decided to establish its first permanent foothold in the Greek world. The Kingdom of Macedonia was divided by the Romans into four client republics. Even this proved insufficient to ensure peace, as Macedonian agitation continued. The Fourth Macedonian War , fought from 150 BC to 148 BC,

7950-447: The Order of Knights. Apparently, equites were originally provided with a sum of money by the state to purchase a horse for military service and for its fodder. This was known as an equus publicus . Theodor Mommsen argues that the royal cavalry was drawn exclusively from the ranks of the patricians ( patricii ), the aristocracy of early Rome, which was purely hereditary. Apart from

8100-426: The Roman legion having proved its supremacy over the Macedonian phalanx. Polybius blames the demagogues of the cities of the league for inspiring the population into a suicidal war. Nationalist stirrings and the idea of triumphing against superior odds motivated the league into this rash decision. The Achaean League was swiftly defeated, and, as an object lesson, Rome utterly destroyed the city of Corinth in 146 BC,

8250-491: The Roman state. Only the people, as represented by the assemblies, could elect magistrates, declare war, or try capital cases. In the second century BC, the assemblies would pass important laws on a wide range of issues, including citizenship, finance, social matters, religion, and war and peace. Voting by the Roman people , therefore, was critical to the functioning of the Republic. It was necessary not only for elections , but also for legislative and judicial reasons. Before

8400-566: The Romans began a major mobilization, all but pulling out of recently pacified Spain and Gaul. They even established a major garrison in Sicily in case the Seleucids ever invaded Italy . This fear was shared by Rome's Greek allies, who had largely ignored Rome in the years after the Second Macedonian War, but now followed Rome again for the first time since that war. A major Roman-Greek force

8550-418: The Senate. The assemblies elected all magistrates, in addition to passing legislation and having some judicial functions. The magistrates had a wide range of duties, including leading armies, presiding over assemblies, judging cases, managing state finances, and managing public works. The Senate was the only deliberative body of the republic, and was composed of ex-magistrates appointed by a magistrate known as

8700-540: The Spartans, the Seleucids lost the battle, and were forced to evacuate Greece. The Romans pursued the Seleucids by crossing the Hellespont , which marked the first time a Roman army had ever entered Asia . The decisive engagement was fought at the Battle of Magnesia , resulting in a complete Roman victory. The Seleucids sued for peace, and Rome forced them to give up their recent Greek conquests. Though they still controlled

8850-468: The Younger ), but in practice this was much more difficult than elevation from commoner to equestrian rank. To join the upper order, not only was the candidate required to meet the minimum property requirement of 250,000 denarii , but also had to be elected a member of the Senate. There were two routes for this, both controlled by the emperor: In public service, equites equo publico had their own version of

9000-468: The achievements and status of the moneyer's ancestors. The effort put into coin designs suggests that an audience for these images was envisioned, presumably beyond the circle of the moneyer's immediate family and friends. At the same time, the shift gave the moneyers themselves and their traditionally relatively humble job at the mint much more publicity and symbolic political capital than ever before. It has been argued that these new coin designs were aimed at

9150-495: The army's total cavalry contingent, the rest being supplied by the Italian confederates. A legion's modest cavalry share of 7% of its 4,500 total strength was thus increased to 12% in a confederate army, comparable with (or higher than) any other forces in Italy except the Gauls and also similar to those in Greek armies such as Pyrrhus's. Despite an ostensibly democratic constitution based on

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9300-471: The army. The Tribal Assembly elected the lower magistrates: the quaestors , who managed state finances, and the curule aediles , responsible for public works. The Plebeian Council elected the plebeian tribunes and the plebeian aediles. The tribunes presided over the Plebeian Council, proposed legislation, and could veto the actions of all other magistrates. The plebeian aediles had a similar role to

9450-543: The ballot law has deprived the optimates of all their influence…The people should not have been provided with a hiding place, where they could conceal a mischievous vote by means of the ballot, and keep the boni in ignorance of their real opinions. Cicero further comments: "the people cherishes its privileges of voting by ballot, which allows a man to wear a smooth brow while it cloaks the secrets of his heart, and leaves him free to act as he chooses, while he gives any promise he may be asked to give". This reduction in influence

9600-412: The ballot laws were introduced, votes were conducted by voice. Voters in a certain century or tribe would gather together in a venue and express their preference, one by one, to a teller ( rogator ). The teller would tabulate the votes and announce the result to the presiding official. Votes were therefore impossible to keep secret. Although there are few recorded instances of direct voter intimidation,

9750-455: The ballot laws, proposed to abolish them. As additional evidence, he points out that there is no record of any further attempts to violate the secrecy of the ballot after the Marian law. The fourth and final law was introduced in 107 BC by the tribune Gaius Coelius Caldus , and expanded the Cassian law to cases of treason. In 107 BC, a Roman army under the consul Lucius Cassius Longinus was dealt

9900-510: The ballot laws—aside from protecting the freedom of the people—may have been to curb corruption, since it was no longer possible for candidates to check whether a citizen voted for him. If that was the intention, the ballot laws had the opposite effect. Candidates could no longer rely on the support of their clients or of other citizens to whom they owed favours, making canvassing more important. In addition, candidates could previously bribe voters by promising payment upon receiving their vote. With

10050-432: The bandwagon effect. Therefore, it is not certain that the ballot laws were the cause of the change. The voting reforms have also been linked to a significant change in Roman coin designs. Crawford noted that the denarius of 137 BC marked a ‘decisive break with the traditional approach to selection of coin types’. Coin designs began to show a great variety of different themes, changing each year, and this continued until

10200-453: The censor. It nominally had largely advisory powers, but in practice its advice was almost always taken, and it was the predominant body in charge of foreign policy and the treasury. The Republic had three popular assemblies: the Centuriate Assembly , Tribal Assembly , and Plebeian Council . The first elected the higher magistrates, including the two consuls , who held extensive powers over all Roman citizens and were commanders-in-chief of

10350-492: The character of a unified city-state (as opposed to a number of separate hilltop settlements) until c. 625   BC. Roman tradition relates that the Order of Knights was founded by Romulus, who supposedly established a cavalry regiment of 300 men called the Celeres ("Swift Squadron") to act as his personal escort, with each of the three Roman "tribes" (actually voting constituencies) supplying 100 horses. This cavalry regiment

10500-424: The chief financial officers (also called procuratores Augusti ) of the imperial provinces, and the deputy financial officers of senatorial provinces. At Rome, equestrians filled numerous senior administrative posts such as the emperor's secretaries of state (from the time of Claudius, e.g. correspondence and treasury) and the praefecti annonae (director of grain supplies). In the military, equestrians provided

10650-583: The city. This was followed by (among others) Sulla's civil war , the Catiline Conspiracy , Caesar's Civil War , the Battle of Philippi , and finally the War of Actium . After the Final War ended in 30 BC, Octavius controlled all of Rome. He concentrated the powers of consul, tribune, and pontifex maximus in his own hands, ruling as an autocrat in all but name. Octavius, renamed Augustus in 27 BC, would be

10800-484: The common people of the provinces, as unscrupulous publicani often sought to maximise their profit by demanding a much higher rates of tax than originally set by the government. The provincial governors whose duty it was to curb illegal demands were often bribed into acquiescence by the publicani . The system also led to political conflict between equites publicani and the majority of their fellow- equites , especially senators, who as large landowners wanted to minimise

10950-554: The conflict by sending an army of Romans and Greek allies to force the issue, beginning the Second Macedonian War . Surprisingly (given his recent successes against the Greeks and earlier successes against Rome), Philip's army buckled under the pressure from the Roman-Greek army. Roman troops led by then consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus reached the plain of Thessaly by 198 BC. In 197 BC the Romans decisively defeated Philip at

11100-421: The consulate in 53 BC, promised each voter in the tribes 1000 asses. In the course of the second century BC, a long series of laws were passed to crack down on ambitus . This included the lex Orchia of 182 BC, which restricted the amount one could spend on banquets, and the lex Baebia one year later, aimed at directly combating ambitus. Despite Plutarch's claim that the giving of gifts in exchange for votes

11250-482: The consuls (one of whom was his own father) not to engage the enemy, Manlius could not resist accepting a personal challenge from the commander of the Tusculan cavalry, which his squadron encountered while on reconnaissance. There ensued a fiercely contested joust with the opposing squadrons as spectators. Manlius won, spearing his adversary after the latter was thrown by his horse. But when the triumphant young man presented

11400-483: The consuls, the Senate had become a permanent body of around 300 life peers who, as largely former Roman magistrates , boasted enormous experience and influence. At the same time, the political unification of the Latin nation, under Roman rule after 338 BC, gave Rome a populous regional base from which to launch its wars of aggression against its neighbours. The gruelling contest for Italian hegemony that Rome fought against

11550-464: The consuls; and the three decurions that led each squadron ( turma ) of legionary cavalry (a total of 30 decurions per legion). As their name implies, equites were liable to cavalry service in the legion of the mid-republic. They originally provided a legion's entire cavalry contingent, although from an early stage (probably from c. 400 and not later than c. 300 BC), when equestrian numbers had become insufficient, large numbers of young men from

11700-482: The court of highest appeal, especially for capital cases. In summary, Rome had a mixed constitution , with monarchic , oligarchic , and democratic elements represented by the senior magistrates, the Senate, and the assemblies respectively. The ancient Greek writer Polybius wrote that at the time of the Second Punic War , the aristocratic element was dominant in Rome. Even so, the people of Rome ( populus romanus ) held important practical and theoretical standing in

11850-407: The curule aediles. The Centuriate Assembly consisted of 193 groupings called centuries, each of which had one vote. The vote of a century was determined by the votes of the members of that century who were present to vote. Membership in a century was determined by a citizen's wealth, geographic location, and age (junior or senior). The centuries were heavily weighted in favor of the wealthy, so that

12000-444: The dissolution of political norms and the rise of political violence. Within decades, mob violence , political assassination , and even civil war would become routine. These conflicts would cause the end of the republic in 27 BC. This extended period of unrest is termed the crisis of the Roman Republic . The constitution of the Roman Republic consisted of a complex mix of elected officials (magistrates), popular assemblies, and

12150-409: The end of the Second Macedonian War, they (and their allies) thought they had left behind a stable peace. However, by weakening the last remaining check on Seleucid expansion, they left behind the opposite. Now not only did Rome's allies against Philip seek a Roman alliance against the Seleucids, but Philip himself even sought an alliance with Rome. The situation was made worse by the fact that Hannibal

12300-481: The end of the year, he sought re-election, breaking another unwritten rule forbidding consecutive terms. While the assembly was voting, a group of senators beat Tiberius to death, along with more than 300 of his supporters. This act of violence marked the first instance of political bloodshed in Republican history, and was considered especially egregious because the person of a tribune was sacrosanct. The third ballot law

12450-404: The expansion in voter freedom, the ballot laws did not reduce the aristocratic dominance of elections. The list of consuls and other elected officials is not any less aristocratic after the laws than before. In the last two centuries of the republic, more than half of the consuls were sons or grandsons of former consuls, and a third of consuls had at least one son who would become a consul. One of

12600-572: The fall of Macedonia. Until this time, Rome had only campaigned in Greece in order to fight Macedonian forts, allies or clients. Rome's military supremacy was well established, having defeated Macedonia and its vaunted Phalanx already on 3 occasions, and defeating superior numbers against the Seleucids in Asia. The Achaean leaders almost certainly knew that this declaration of war against Rome was hopeless, as Rome had triumphed against far stronger and larger opponents,

12750-549: The first Roman emperor . These events marked the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Principate . Although the assemblies continued to meet during the Principate, Augustus removed their judicial role and began transferring their electoral power to the Senate; his successor Tiberius would completely end the electoral role of the assemblies. The assemblies continued to have legislative powers, but even under Augustus this power

12900-428: The first class of commoners were regularly volunteering for the service, which was considered more glamorous than the infantry. The cavalry role of equites dwindled after the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), as the number of equestrians became insufficient to provide the senior officers of the army and general cavalrymen as well. Equites became exclusively an officer-class, with the first class of commoners providing

13050-489: The founder of the Principate, Augustus (sole rule 30 BC – 14 AD) and his successors until 312. Senators' sons and further descendants technically retained equestrian rank unless and until they won a seat in the Senate. But Talbert argues that Augustus established the existing senatorial elite as a separate and superior order (ordo senatorius) to the equites for the first time. The evidence for this includes: A family's senatorial status depended not only on continuing to match

13200-445: The governorship ( praefectus Augusti ) of the province of Egypt , which was considered the most prestigious of all the posts open to equites , often the culmination of a long and distinguished career serving the state. In addition, equites were appointed to the governorship ( procurator Augusti ) of some smaller provinces and sub-provinces e.g. Judaea , whose governor was subordinate to the governor of Syria . Equestrians were also

13350-509: The hands of rich aristocrats, leading to the rise of large estates called latifundia . These large estates were worked by slaves from conquered territories, who flooded into Italy in the hundreds of thousands. Due to economies of scale , the use of slave labor , and the appropriation of previously public land, many small farmers found it impossible to compete with the latifundia and were forced to sell their farms. The dispossession of these farmers, many of whom moved to Rome and became part of

13500-435: The higher wealth qualification, but on their leading member holding a seat in the Senate. Failing either condition, the family would revert to ordinary knightly status. Although sons of sitting senators frequently won seats in the Senate, this was by no means guaranteed, as candidates often outnumbered the 20 seats available each year, leading to intense competition. As regards the equestrian order, Augustus apparently abolished

13650-422: The imperial government. There was a clear division between jobs reserved for senators (the most senior) and those reserved for non-senatorial equites . But the career structure of both groups was broadly similar: a period of junior administrative posts in Rome or Roman Italy , followed by a period (normally a decade) of military service as a senior army officer, followed by senior administrative or military posts in

13800-399: The impetuosity of the masses and the licence afforded by the ballot." 133 BC was a turning point in Roman politics, marking the beginning of the crisis of the Roman Republic . In that year, Tiberius Gracchus was elected tribune and forced through a land redistribution law without consulting the Senate and against the veto of another tribune—both of which violated custom, if not the law. At

13950-573: The initials of only one candidate or of all ten. Nicolet argues for the single vote theory, pointing out that one round of voting sometimes failed to fill all tribune positions or even both consulships. Taylor believes the balance of evidence is against the single vote theory. However individuals were expected to vote and however the votes were aggregated, it is clear that a century or tribe was expected to send forth as many names as there were positions to be filled. For judicial assemblies, jurymen were handed pre-inscribed ballots with A on one side and D on

14100-432: The lack of a major Greek power would ensure a stable peace, though it did the opposite. Upon Philip's death in Macedon (179 BC), his son, Perseus of Macedon , attempted to restore Macedon's international influence, and moved aggressively against his neighbors. When Perseus was implicated in an assassination plot against an ally of Rome, the Senate declared the third Macedonian War. Initially, Rome did not fare well against

14250-477: The landless poor, caused profound social tension and political upheaval. The 130s and 120s BC were a turning point for Roman politics. The ballot laws were introduced at a time of rising popular sentiment that saw the rise of populares politicians, who gained power by appealing to the lower classes. Most notably, these included Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC and Gaius Gracchus a decade later. The resulting conflict between populares and optimates would lead to

14400-459: The late Republican era, the collection of most taxes was contracted out to private individuals or companies by competitive tender, with the contract for each province awarded to the publicanus who bid the highest advance to the state treasury on the estimated tax-take of the province. The publicanus would then attempt to recoup his advance, with the right to retain any surplus collected as his profit. This system frequently resulted in extortion from

14550-443: The later republican period, Roman senators and their offspring became an unofficial elite within the equestrian order. Under Augustus , the senatorial elite was given formal status (as the ordo senatorius ) with a higher wealth threshold (250,000 denarii , or the pay of 1,100 legionaries) and superior rank and privileges to ordinary equites . During the Principate, equites filled the senior administrative and military posts of

14700-421: The laws, passed thereafter [after the ballot laws], which ensure the secrecy of the ballot in every possible way, providing that no one shall look at a ballot, and that no one shall question or accost the voters. The Marian Law even made the passages (pontes) narrow. Yakobson views this passage as evidence that these laws were effective at ensuring the secrecy of the ballot, which explains why Cicero, an opponent of

14850-407: The legionary cavalry, although they remained technically liable to such service throughout the Principate era (to 284 AD). They continued to supply the senior officers of the army throughout the Principate. With the exception of the purely hereditary patricians, the equites were originally defined by a property threshold. The rank was passed from father to son, although members of the order who at

15000-427: The legionary cavalry. From the earliest times and throughout the Republican period, Roman equites subscribed, in their role as Roman cavalrymen, to an ethos of personal heroism and glory. This was motivated by the desire to justify their privileged status to the lower classes that provided the infantry ranks, to enhance the renown of their family name, and to augment their chances of subsequent political advancement in

15150-497: The masses. The ballot laws were highly controversial and strongly opposed by the optimates . Pliny remarks: You remember, no doubt, having often read what commotions were occasioned by the ballot law (lex tabellaria), and how much its author was both approved and condemned. The first ballot law (the lex Gabinia tabellaria ) was introduced in 139 BC for the election of magistrates by the tribune Aulus Gabinius , whom Cicero called "an unknown and sordid agitator". The law mandated

15300-424: The members finished voting. Voting in the Centuriate Assembly also became simultaneous in the late Republic, with the centuries in each class voting at one call—although the classes still voted in sequence. It is not clear whether these changes occurred before or after the ballot laws. There are other possible reasons for the change to simultaneous voting, including putting the tribes on an equal footing, or avoiding

15450-470: The moneyer's name to the public, whose votes he would soon seek in his bid for the quaestorship … The object was self-promotion. After the violent deaths of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC and Gaius Gracchus in 121 BC, political violence in Rome continued to intensify, soon becoming the norm and not the exception. The following century was occupied by numerous civil wars . In 88 BC, for the first time in Republican history, Sulla marched on Rome and occupied

15600-624: The most significant threat to the century-old political order that had kept the Greek world in relative stability, and in particular represented a major threat to the smaller Greek kingdoms which had remained independent. As Macedonia and the Seleucid Empire were the problem, and Egypt the cause of the problem, the only place to turn was Rome. This represented a major change, as the Greeks had recently shown little more than contempt towards Rome, and Rome little more than apathy towards Greece. Ambassadors from Pergamon and Rhodes brought evidence before

15750-422: The order. Imperial equites were thus divided into two tiers: a few thousand mainly Italian equites equo publico , members of the order eligible to hold the public offices reserved for the equites ; and a much larger group of wealthy Italians and provincials (estimated at 25,000 in the 2nd century) of equestrian status but outside the order. Equestrians could in turn be elevated to senatorial rank (e.g., Pliny

15900-495: The other, representing Absolvo ("I acquit") or Damno ("I condemn"). The jurymen were expected to erase one of the letters without revealing their verdict. It was also possible for the ballot to contain L ("libero") instead of A, or C ("condemno") instead of D. The juror could even erase both sides of the ballot to indicate that the matter is unclear to him. For legislation, voters wrote V for Uti rogas (“as you ask”) or A for antiquo “as they are” to express approval or disapproval of

16050-432: The practical effects of the ballot laws was to increase the amount of time needed for voting, as ballot voting was much slower than voice voting due to the time needed to hand out the ballots, inscribe them, and count the votes. As a possible consequence, voting for elections in the Tribal Assembly became simultaneous in the late Republic. Previously, the tribes voted sequentially, with the votes of each tribe announced after

16200-616: The produce of their own landed estates but too small to conduct large-scale sea transportation. From this time onwards, senatorial families mostly invested their capital in land. All other equestrians remained free to invest their wealth, greatly increased by the growth of Rome's overseas empire after the Second Punic War, in large-scale commercial enterprises including mining and industry, as well as land. Equestrians became especially prominent in tax farming and, by 100 BC, owned virtually all tax-farming companies ( publicani ). During

16350-458: The provinces (especially the Balkan provinces) who displaced the Italian aristocrats in the top military posts, and under Diocletian (ruled 284–305) from the top civilian positions also. This effectively reduced the Italian aristocracy to an idle, but immensely wealthy, group of landowners. During the 4th century, the status of equites was debased to insignificance by excessive grants of the rank. At

16500-404: The provinces. Senators and equites formed a tiny elite of under 10,000 members who monopolised political, military and economic power in an empire of about 60 million inhabitants. During the 3rd century AD, power shifted from the Italian aristocracy to a class of equites who had earned their membership by distinguished military service, often rising from the ranks: career military officers from

16650-417: The rank of equo privato , according all its members equo publico status. In addition, Augustus organised the order in a quasi-military fashion, with members enrolled into six turmae (notional cavalry squadrons). The order's governing body were the seviri ("Committee of Six"), composed of the "commanders" of the turmae . In an attempt to foster an esprit de corps amongst the equites , Augustus revived

16800-401: The region, as they withdrew all military forces without even attempting to consolidate any gains, and subsequently returned to their prior apathy even when their Greek allies ignored later Roman requests. With Egypt and Macedonia now weakened, the Seleucid Empire became increasingly aggressive and successful in its attempts to conquer the entire Greek world. When Rome pulled out of Greece at

16950-401: The regular quinquennial (every five years) census no longer met the property requirement were usually removed from the order's rolls by the Roman censors. In the late republic, the property threshold stood at 50,000 denarii and was doubled to 100,000 by the emperor Augustus (sole rule 30 BC – 14 AD) – roughly the equivalent to the annual salaries of 450 contemporary legionaries. In

17100-533: The republic (in contrast to equites equo publico ). However, due to a lack of evidence, the origins and definition of equo privato equites remain obscure. It is widely agreed that the 12 new centuriae were open to non-patricians. Thus, from this date if not earlier, not all equites were patricians. The patricians, as a closed hereditary caste, steadily diminished in numbers over the centuries, as families died out. Around 450 BC, there are some 50 patrician gentes (clans) recorded, whereas just 14 remained at

17250-517: The rest of the eastern Mediterranean basin, in addition to their hegemony in the western Mediterranean after the Punic Wars . Traditionally, the "Macedonian Wars" include the four wars with Macedonia , in addition to one war with the Seleucid Empire , and a final minor war with the Achaean League (which is often considered to be the final stage of the final Macedonian War). The most significant war

17400-407: The right shoulder was visible (as opposed to the broad stripe worn by senators. ) equites bore the title eques Romanus , were entitled to wear an anulus aureus (gold ring) on their left hand, and, from 67 BC, enjoyed privileged seats at games and public functions (just behind those reserved for senators). The Senate as a body was formed of sitting senators, whose number was held at around 600 by

17550-575: The same time the ranks of senators were swollen to over 4,000 by the establishment of the Byzantine Senate (a second senate in Constantinople ) and the tripling of the membership of both senates. The senatorial order of the 4th century was thus the equivalent of the equestrian order of the Principate. According to Roman legend, Rome was founded by its first king, Romulus , in 753 BC. However, archaeological evidence suggests that Rome did not acquire

17700-521: The same year that Carthage was destroyed. After nearly a century of constant crisis management in Greece, which always led back to internal instability and war when Rome pulled out, Rome decided to divide Macedonia into two new Roman provinces, Achaea and Epirus . Equites The equites ( / ˈ ɛ k w ɪ t iː z / ; lit.   ' horse ' or ' cavalrymen ' , though sometimes referred to as " knights " in English) constituted

17850-645: The second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome , ranking below the senatorial class . A member of the equestrian order was known as an eques ( Latin: [ˈɛ.kʷɛs] ). During the Roman Kingdom and the first century of the Roman Republic , legionary cavalry was recruited exclusively from the ranks of the patricians , who were expected to provide six centuriae (hundred) of cavalry (300 horses for each consular legion). Around 400   BC, 12 more centuriae of cavalry were established and these included non-patricians ( plebeians ). Around 300 BC

18000-437: The secret ballot, this was no longer possible, making it necessary to bribe potential as well as actual voters. Furthermore, voters had the option of accepting bribes from every candidate and voting for the highest bidder, or voting their conscience. This made bribery a more competitive affair as candidates attempted to outbid each other, either by holding lavish games and feasts or by directly promising money to voters. Despite

18150-465: The senatorial cursus honorum , or conventional career-path, which typically combined military and administrative posts. After an initial period of a few years in local government in their home regions as administrators (local aediles or duumviri ) or as priests ( augures ), equites were required to serve as military officers for about 10 years before they would be appointed to senior administrative or military posts. Equestrians exclusively provided

18300-435: The sovereignty of the people, the Roman Republic was in reality a classic oligarchy , in which political power was monopolised by the richest social echelon. Probably by 300 BC, the centuriate organisation of the Roman citizen body for political purposes achieved the evolved form described by Polybius and Livy. The comitia centuriata was the most powerful people's assembly, as it promulgated Roman laws and annually elected

18450-519: The spoils to his father, the latter ordered his son's immediate execution for disobeying orders. "Orders of Manlius" ( Manliana imperia ) became a proverbial army term for orders that must on no account be disregarded. In 218 BC, the lex Claudia restricted the commercial activity of senators and their sons, on the grounds that it was incompatible with their status. Senators were prohibited from owning ships of greater capacity than 300 amphorae (about seven tonnes) – this being judged sufficient to carry

18600-412: The tax on land outside Italy ( tributum solis ), which was the main source of state revenue. This system was terminated by the first Roman emperor, Augustus (sole rule 30 BC – 14 AD), who transferred responsibility for tax collection from the publicani to provincial local authorities ( civitates peregrinae ). Although the latter also frequently employed private companies to collect their tax quotas, it

18750-524: The time of Julius Caesar (dictator of Rome 48–44 BC), whose own Iulii clan was patrician. In contrast, the ranks of equites , although also hereditary (in the male line), were open to new entrants who met the property requirement and who satisfied the Roman censors that they were suitable for membership. As a consequence, patricians rapidly became only a small minority of the equestrian order. However, patricians retained political influence greatly out of proportion with their numbers. Until 172 BC, one of

18900-410: The time of Hadrian, a fourth militia was added for exceptionally gifted officers, commander of an ala milliaria (double-strength ala ). Each post was held for three to four years. Most of the top posts in the imperial administration were reserved for senators, who provided the governors of the larger provinces (except Egypt), the legati legionis (legion commanders) of all legions outside Egypt, and

19050-405: The time of the Roman Empire that the eastern Mediterranean, along with the entire Roman world, was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control. During the Second Punic War , Philip V of Macedon allied himself with Hannibal . Fearing possible reinforcement of Hannibal by Macedon, the senate dispatched a praetor with forces across the Adriatic . Roman maniples (aided by allies from

19200-449: The traditional association of the aristocracy with horsemanship, the evidence for this view is the fact that, during the republic, six centuriae (voting constituencies) of equites in the comitia centuriata (electoral assembly) retained the names of the original six royal cavalry centuriae . These are very likely the " centuriae of patrician nobles" in the comitia mentioned by the lexicologist Sextus Pompeius Festus . If this view

19350-400: The two consuls elected each year had to be a patrician. In addition, patricians may have retained their original six centuriae , which gave them a third of the total voting-power of the equites , even though they constituted only a tiny minority of the order by 200 BC. Patricians also enjoyed official precedence, such as the right to speak first in senatorial debates, which were initiated by

19500-413: The voters, who were now less open to more direct forms of pressure and influence. Thus, as the mint magistrates were mostly young men at the start of their political career , the selection of coin design now offered an unrivalled opportunity to canvass the entire voting population: The moneyer had the right to put a design of his own choosing on the state's money. Each coin offered the chance to introduce

19650-525: Was adopted following the acquittal that Lucius Aurelius Cotta obtained by corrupting the judges in 138 BC. According to the Cambridge Ancient History , the law was undoubtedly justified as giving freedom to the people, but may also have been intended to curb bribery of voters by candidates. Ursula Hall believes that the law "was undoubtedly largely supported by men of substance wanting to challenge aristocratic control of office. In purpose this law

19800-430: Was assessed in an official census as meeting the property requirement of 100,000 denarii to use the title of eques and wear the narrow-striped tunic and gold ring. But such "property-qualified equites " were not apparently admitted to the ordo equester itself, but simply enjoyed equestrian status. Only those granted an equus publicus by the emperor (or who inherited the status from their fathers) were enrolled in

19950-613: Was becoming a leading empire. The outcome of the war with the now-deteriorating Seleucid Empire was ultimately fatal to it as well, though the growing influence of Parthia and Pontus prevented any additional conflicts between it and Rome. From the close of the Macedonian Wars until the early Roman Empire , the eastern Mediterranean remained an ever shifting network of polities with varying levels of independence from, dependence on, or outright military control by, Rome. According to Polybius , who sought to trace how Rome came to dominate

20100-402: Was capable of pacifying. This had some important similarities (and some important differences) to what had occurred in Italy centuries earlier, but was this time on a continental scale. Historians see the growing Roman influence over the east, as with the west, not as a matter of intentional empire-building, but constant crisis management narrowly focused on accomplishing short-term goals within

20250-423: Was entitled to a guard at each ballot box. To elect magistrates, voters expressed their preference by inscribing the initials of their preferred candidate with a stylus. They were expected to write in their own hand, and discovering multiple ballots with the same handwriting was considered evidence of fraud. When voting to fill multiple positions, such as the ten tribunes , it is unclear whether citizens inscribed

20400-403: Was especially true for patrons and clients, as clients were expected to do favours for their patrons in return for financial support. With the secret ballot, clients could simply vote for the candidate of their choice without losing their patrons’ support. Yakobson suspects that this "must have had its impact on the nature of patron-client relations in this period." One of the justifications for

20550-435: Was exercised more and more rarely. Rome became an autocratic state in all but name, and the ballot laws became irrelevant to the running of the state. Macedonian Wars The Macedonian Wars (214–148 BC) were a series of conflicts fought by the Roman Republic and its Greek allies in the eastern Mediterranean against several different major Greek kingdoms. They resulted in Roman control or influence over Greece and

20700-534: Was fought against a Macedonian pretender to the throne, named Andriscus , who was again destabilizing Greece by attempting to re-establish the old Kingdom. The Romans swiftly defeated the Macedonians at the Second battle of Pydna . In response, the Achaean League in 146 BC mobilized for a new war against Rome. This is sometimes referred to as the Achaean War , and was noted for its short duration and its timing right after

20850-539: Was fought with the Seleucid Empire, while the war with Macedonia was the second, and both of these wars effectively marked the end of these empires as major world powers, even though neither of them led immediately to overt Roman domination. Four separate wars were fought against the weaker power, Macedonia, due to its geographic proximity to Rome, though the last two of these wars were against haphazard insurrections rather than powerful armies. Roman influence gradually dissolved Macedonian independence and digested it into what

21000-412: Was in their own interests to curb extortion. During the imperial era, tax collectors were generally paid an agreed percentage of the amount collected. equites publicani became prominent in banking activities such as money-lending and money-changing. The official dress of equestrians was the tunica angusticlavia (narrow-striped tunic), worn underneath the toga , in such a manner that the stripe over

21150-413: Was introduced in 131 BC by Gaius Papirius Carbo , and applied to the ratification and repeal of legislation—which, by this point, was mainly the duty of the Plebeian Council. Carbo, called a "rabble-rouser" by Cicero, was at the time on the land commission charged with implementing Tiberius Gracchus ' land redistribution law. Pointing to this association, Hall argues that unlike the earlier lex Gabinia ,

21300-616: Was largely independent of the Roman-Macedon wars that followed (which began with the Second Macedonian War and were largely dependent on each other) in the next century. The past century had seen the Greek world dominated by the three primary successor kingdoms of Alexander the Great's empire: Ptolemaic Egypt , Macedonia and the Seleucid Empire . The imperial ambitions of the Seleucids after 230 BC were particularly destabilizing. The Seleucids set out to conquer Egypt, and Egypt responded through

21450-401: Was largely peaceful, with no civil wars and no recorded political murders. However, the conquest of an empire would cause significant political and social changes. With an empire, political office offered more opportunities for wealth and personal advancement, increasing the stakes of elections. The Italian land conquered by Rome—technically ager publicus , or public land—in practice fell into

21600-460: Was low is itself controversial. In fact, Edward Best flipped the argument around, using the ballot laws as evidence that literacy was widespread in Rome. Subsequent improvements or extensions to the law were the lex Papiria (131 BC), the lex Maria and lex Caelia (107 BC), all aimed at limiting corruption. Together these laws are called leges tabellariae . The second law was introduced by Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla in 137 BC. It extended

21750-468: Was mobilized under the command of the great hero of the Second Punic War, Scipio Africanus , and set out for Greece, beginning the Roman-Syrian War . After initial fighting that revealed serious Seleucid weaknesses, the Seleucids tried to turn the Roman strength against them at the Battle of Thermopylae (as they believed the 300 Spartans had done centuries earlier to the mighty Persian Empire). Like

21900-446: Was not, in a modern sense, 'democratic', not designed to give more power to voters, much less candidates, from lower ranks in the Roman system." Hall and Harris both claim because literacy was uncommon in ancient Rome and the written ballot would have required literacy, the Gabinian law must have restricted voting to a small and prosperous minority, with Harris suggesting that this was intentional. However, Alexander Yakobson argues that

22050-402: Was now a chief military advisor to the Seleucid emperor, and the two were believed to be planning for an outright conquest not just of Greece, but of Rome also. The Seleucids were much stronger than the Macedonians had ever been, given that they controlled much of the former Persian Empire , and by this point had almost entirely reassembled Alexander the Great's former empire. Fearing the worst,

22200-494: Was punishable by death, these laws appeared to have little effect. The ballot laws were not the first election laws to be passed. Due to the apparent ineffectiveness of the anti-corruption lex Baebia of 181 BC, the Cornelian-Fulvian law of 159 BC was passed, again targeting corruption. Extending the sumptuary law ( lex Orchia ) of 182 BC, the lex Didia of 143 BC restricted spending on banquets in all of Italy. In 145 BC,

22350-399: Was reached, voting stopped. The poorer centuries, therefore, rarely had a chance to vote. The Tribal Assembly was composed of groupings called tribes, where membership in a tribe was determined by geographic location and not, as the name implies, by ancestry. Each tribe had one vote, and the vote of a tribe was determined by the votes of the members. Unlike in the Centuriate Assembly, there

22500-424: Was supposedly doubled in size to 600 men by King Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (traditional dates 616–578 BC). That the cavalry was increased to 600 during the regal era is plausible, as in the early republic the cavalry fielded remained 600-strong (two legions with 300 horses each). However, according to Livy, King Servius Tullius (traditional reign-dates 578–535 BC) established a further 12 centuriae of equites ,

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